


Sail the Universe

by ziskandra



Series: Secondary Codex: A Mass Effect Fic Collection [1]
Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 19:58:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10543497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ziskandra/pseuds/ziskandra
Summary: Sometimes love changes, sometimes it remains the same.A series of responses written for an 'I love you' prompt meme on Tumblr, spanning Liam and Sara's relationship in the game before heading into some angsty post-finale speculation (aka outtakes from a longer fic that's being worked upon)!





	1. the first time

The thing about being trapped in some sort of weird-as-hell stasis field is that it gives one time to think. _Too much_  time to think, all things considered. Liam’s already been doing enough thinking, and not enough _doing_. Too much playing-it-safe, not wanting to screw things up, too much time not spent telling Sara how much she means to him.   
  
How much he loves her.   
  
The realisation should hit him like a tonne of bricks, but it doesn’t. Now that he stops and thinks about it, he realises he’s been exponentially falling in love with her since the first time they met, the first time they spoke, and it’s far too late to stop now.  
  
 _He loves her_. He whispers the words underneath his breath just to try them out, thinks he can see Cora throw him a glance out of the corner of her eye. He doesn’t care. Says it again, just to be sure. It feels right.   
  
SAM’s ‘reboot’ takes, and Sara reawakens with a shuddering gasp. 

_He loves her._


	2. before we jump

Sara’s skin is thrumming with the frenzied energy she always feels when she stands upon the precipice of the unknown. While may still have her doubts ( _so_  many doubts) about her skills, her capabilities, times like these are one of the few where such worries are not at the forefront of her mind. All she can think about is what’s down there? What will be awaiting for them?  
  
What will they discover?  
  
She feels Liam’s hand upon her shoulder as the Tempest drops in low over the evac point. “We got this,” he murmurs, and Sara’s guts churn with a combination of anticipation and relief. Having him by her side always makes everything infinitely better. “Ready?” he asks, and Sara’s lips curve into a smile.   
  
“Always.”  
  
As it turns out, _jumping_  is different to _falling_. The wind hits her face and so does a realisation, sharp and stinging and real. _She loves him_. “I love you,” she whispers, testing out way the words sound while he’s still too far away to hear. 


	3. so everyone can hear

Liam doesn’t care that everyone’s watching. Prefers it, in fact. They’ve found their home. They’ve _won_. When he gathers Sara into her arms to kiss her, deeply, strongly, _soundly,_ he can’t stop himself from smiling. “I love you,” he whispers against her lips before dipping her into another kiss.  
  
Someone in the assorted crowd wolf-whistles. Liam is still beyond caring. Sara is kissing _back_ and that’s all that matters. When they break apart for air, he tells her, “I love you so much, I could shout it from the rooftops.”  
  
Sara wrinkles her nose. “Are you really–”  
  
The answer is _yes. “_ I _love_  you, Sara Ryder,” he bellows, loud enough for everyone to hear. The Tempest crew exchanges looks which are half delight and half-exasperation. Someone, somewhere, makes a joke about how the repopulation committee’s job just got a hundred times easier.     
  


***

In the weeks after, someone makes a holovid of the post-battle livestream. Liam makes an initial order of 100 copies.

He’s going to give them to all of his friends. 


	4. under the blankets

It is in the lazy days after their final victory that the crew members of the Tempest learn to avoid the Pathfinder’s quarters. At best, one is simply ignored, and at worst, one might come across a sight they could’ve done without.   
  
(It’s already happened to poor Kallo, who’d walked away mumbling something along the lines of _cannot unsee._ With his memory? He’s not even being melodramatic.)  
  
It is in the lazy days after their final victory that Sara and Liam finally have the opportunity to carve away some time to _really_  get to know each other. Liam buries his face into Sara’s neck as they explore each other’s bodies underneath the sheets. He grazes her teeth against her throat in a way that makes her hips buck.   
  
Just another one of his more recent discoveries. “I love you,” he rumbles against her skin, fingers splayed upon her hip.  
  
She laughs when his touches begin to tickle, squirming out of the way. “I love you, too,” she responds, mid-chuckle. Reaching for Liam’s wrist with her fingers, she tugs his hand down towards her thigh. She cocks an eyebrow. “Now show me _how much_.” Her lines aren’t getting any better, but they’ve gotten her this far, so who is she to complain?  
  
(Meanwhile, up on the bridge, Kallo wishes those original designs for the Tempest had included more stringent sound-proofing specifications.)


	5. beg me not to leave

“ _Sara_ ,” Liam pleads, one hand on her arm as she heads down towards the Nomad, “you don’t have to do this.”  
  
She shrugs him off, schools her face into that expression of passive neutrality that Liam hates, closed off and hidden, and simply answers, “I do.”  
  
The thing is, Liam has always believed in new beginnings (still does), but he doesn’t trust that the Initiative has their Pathfinder’s best interests at heart when they insist she goes on a solo mission. Alone. (Yes, that is what ‘solo’ means. And yet, he still cannot believe it.)   
  
And whatever they have planned, they definitely don’t have _Sara’s_  best interests at heart, and that’s what breaks his heart. Hasn’t she already done enough? For all of them?   
  
He’s fighting back tears, the protective roar in his chest, when he lets go and simply whispers, “I love you.”   
  
She turns as she begins to board the vehicle.  
  
“I know,” she answers simply.  
  
The words will haunt Liam for days. 


	6. the broken glass litters the floor

The first thought that runs through Liam’s mind, sends it spinning, is _Sara is bleeding_. Then she looks up from the cut on her hand and it’s like he’s been punched in the gut.   
  
 _Sara is crying_. He knows she hates crying in front of other people, feels privileged, sometimes, to know that he’s one of the few who’s seen her at her most vulnerable and honest. But the other times, she’d been happy.   
  
This time, she so very obviously _isn’t_. 

Staring at him with her crumpled face and red-rimmed eyes, she whispers, “I didn’t hear you come in.” Her voice quiet enough that Liam has to strain to hear the words.   
  
“I was looking for you,” he starts, finding himself unsure of how to proceed; he wants to be able to draw Sara in his arms and promise her everything will be okay, but she’s always liked her space and besides. Would she believe him? He hates how these doubts have burrowed their way into his mind of late. Remembers, vividly, how shortly after their arrival at their new home he’d thought that the hard work was finally over.   
  
Maybe he’d been naive. Still, though. He’d never take anything back. Just wishes, sometimes, he knew how to help Sara. Help her see herself the same way he saw her. He knows she hates it when he puts her on a pedestal but it’s hard, sometimes, when he just looks at her and is blown away by how amazing she is.   
  
She has her flaws, sure. Everyone does. He’ll love her for as long as she’ll let him, anyway. Slowly, he crouches down on the floor, being careful to avoid the shards of glass that have shattered around Sara’s feet. “What happened?” he asks, voice low and calm, falling into his career training without really meaning to.  
  
Sara looks up at him like a wounded deer, eyes wide. “You know, the thing I’ve been working on? With Dad and the secrets he’d kept from us?”   
  
Liam nods along, inching closer towards Sara, waits until she makes the first move and rests her head against his shoulder. “Yeah. What of it?”   
  
“I just. I don’t even know where to begin.” She throws her head back, laughs. The change in demeanour is alarming, but not unfamiliar. “At first, I was so happy, but then, it just hit me all at once, you know? He fucking lied to us, Dad did. I don’t regret coming here, I don’t,” she insists, reaching for Liam’s hand with her uninjured one, wrapping her fingers around his, “but fuck. I hate this. Was everything we knew about the Initiative a lie?”   
  
The words cause an uneasy churning deep in his gut, but this isn’t the time to process it. Later, he tells himself. “We don’t need to talk about it now, love,” Liam soothes, “but I love you, and when you’re ready, we’ll work through this, together.”   
  
Sara smiles. “What did I ever do to deserve you?” she asks, slumping against him. “Sorry I broke the glass. I’ll get it cleaned up.”  
  
Liam glances down at the shards around their feet, tilts his head to get a closer look at the cut on Sara’s hand. Reaching for that wrist, he presses a kiss against her cheek. “Together,” he insists.


	7. over and over again

“Liam, Liam, Liam.” Sara breathes his name like a mantra as he lies limply in her arms. His skin is so clammy and cold underneath her fingertips and the Tempest is still three minutes away.   
  
“You can’t do this to me,” she whispers, running a hand through his hair. “I need you. We all do.”  
  
That’s the issue at the heart of the whole matter; that Liam places a higher value on her life than his own. When they’re alone, he’s gotten better at treating her just like the ordinary human she’s always been, but on the battlefield? Traces of deference to the _Pathfinder_ are all too common. Maybe she could wave it away as _chain of command_  but part of her still thinks, deep down, that Liam believes she is more important, more necessary, than he is.   
  
(She recalls, briefly, one of her first Alliance dalliances; _there are regs_ , she’d been told,and in response, she’d simply said _I won’t tell if you won’t_. She now realises just how important those regulations had been.)   
  
Sara feels a lance of hot anger and guilt lance through her when several more seconds pass and Liam still refuses to move. “You idiot,” she growls, clutching one of his shoulders. She’d shake him if it wouldn’t aggravate his injury. “I’m not worth this.”  
  
The rage passes as quickly as it had risen, and in its absence, all that Sara is left with is fear. She lowers her head as she feels her eyes well up with tears. Despite the situation, despite everything, she still hates crying in public. “I love you,” she whispers to him, shoulders shaking, “I love you.” She’s not sure how many time she repeats the words to herself, over and over again, too scared to say what she’s really thinking: _please don’t leave me alone._

**Author's Note:**

> Title is taken from 'We Are Stars' by The Pierces, which is one of my favourite songs on my burgeoning Rydam playlist! 
> 
> If you want to keep up with me/my writing, my Tumblr is @commspecialist.


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